My reluctant journey that I am starting, to de-junk, de-tox, de-stress and heal. As I learn I will share these learnings to hopefully help and inspire others to make small positive changes in their own lives. In an age of rampant chronic inflammation and disease, it is vital to know what we are putting into our bodies and the effect it has. After all, our health and the health of our children is the most precious gift we have. Without health we have no wealth and our potential is restricted.

Monday, November 23, 2015

I was bumbling through Facebook and I found this very interesting post. Anything about inflammation stops me dead in my tracks and has me hooked, as I work daily to manage my RA symptoms without the use of pharmaceutical drugs. I had NO IDEA that I even had a Vagus Nerve and no, it didn't have anything to do with a holiday is Las Vegas (darn!) When I see "6 ways" I want to know what they are quickly, without reading through the gumph, so here they are in a nutshell - the six ways to instantly stimulte your vagus nerve to relieve inflammation, depression and migraines:

Slow, rhythmic, diaphragmatic breathing. Breathing from your diaphragm, rather than shallowly from the top of the lungs stimulates and tones the vagus nerve.[I don't know when last I did this!]

Humming. Since the vagus nerve is connected to the vocal cords, humming mechanically stimulates it. You can hum a song, or even better repeat the sound ‘OM’. [easy enough to add to my daily routine]

Speaking. Similarly speaking is helpful for vagal tone, due to the connection to the vocal cords. [ok there's no problem here]

Washing your face with cold water. The mechanism her is not known, but cold water on your face stimulates the vagus nerve. [this may take some getting used to!]

Meditation, especially loving kindness meditation which promotes feelings of goodwill towards yourself and others. A 2010 study by Barbara Fredrickson and Bethany Kik found that increasing positive emotions led to increased social closeness, and an improvement in vagal tone. [Grrr that old addage that states "if you don't have time for 5 minutes of meditation then do 20 minutes" is nagging me. Gotta find time to do this, I'm reading more and more about the benefits of meditation]

Balancing the gut microbiome. The presence of healthy bacteria in the gut creates a positive feedback loop through the vagus nerve, increasing its tone. [I'm getting into this, just got my first Keffir grains to make my very own Keffir]